The cleric subclass inBaldur’s Gate 3isthe least popular choice among players for their custom characters. This might stem from the class having a certain unfounded reputation for being a pure support role, or from the fact that one of the earliest companions the player can unlock is already a cleric. And Shadowheart, the amnesiac follower of Shar, sets a very poor example of how effective a cleric can be. This largely stems from the subclass that Shadowheart uses by default: the domain of trickery.
Cleric subclasses are super important in determining their power. They add extra spells to the cleric list, provide ways to use the cleric’s channel divinity feature, and include certain weapon and armor proficiencies that allow extra gear to be used. Andclerics get seven subclass options right at level one, making them one of the more versatile classes in that regard. To make an effective cleric that is fun to play, players should consider the strengths and weaknesses of these options, and pick from among the best.
Three Standout Choices Among The Cleric Subclasses
While The Other Four Domains Are Interesting, Their Abilities Don’t Stack Up
Of the seven subclasses, three reign as the most effective and powerful for what they provide.Those are the life, light, and tempest domains, which outperform the other four on basically every level. The knowledge, nature, trickery, and war domains have their strengths, for the most part, but ultimately lack the damage output and support capabilities of the former three options.
The knowledge domain gets some extra skill proficiencies and even some expertise, as well as a few powerful spells on their expanded list, but ultimately, not much to make them stand out in or out of combat. The nature domain gets severaldruid abilities and spells, but their channel divinity feature “charm animals and plants” leaves much to be desired, and a druid multiclass seems like a better option.The trickery domain gets a collection of niche spells and subpar abilitiesthat disappoint at every turn.
The war subclass tries to make the cleric more of a martial character, which ultimately works against it.
As for the war domain cleric, it has a bit more going for it than these others. It gets several uses of a bonus action attack, a channel divinity to help their attacks hit, and all the armor and weapon proficiencies they could want. The issue is that the war subclass tries to make the cleric more of a martial character, which ultimately works against it, since it has some of the most powerful spellcasting in the whole game.The war cleric works best when multiclassed with a martial class, but then, that takes away from its spellcasting.
The Best Cleric Subclasses Supplement Their Superb Spell List
The Best Spell List In The Game Gets Even Better
One of the strengths of the cleric as a whole is its selection of amazing spells, from cantrips likeguidance, to buffs likebless, to encounter destroyers likespirit guardians. Their list is unmatched, and thus, many of the lackluster or repeated spells on the subclass expanded lists don’t feel like too much of an impediment. Still, the three best subclass make some really great options permanently available.
The cleric subclasses don’t just provide extra spells that the character can choose to learn, but rather, make certain spells always prepared. Many of the subclasses have lists that overlap with options available already to clerics, basically just making those spells constantly available.
The light and tempest clerics especially gain some powerful spells. With AOEs like fireball andwall of fire, the light cleric can deal out tons of damage at a far range. And the tempest cleric gets access to spells that deal thunder and lightning damage, such as call lightning anddestructive wave, which make the most out of their incredible channel divinity feature. Cleric’s spells can struggle to churn out high damage at long range, butthese subclasses are some of the best damage dealers inBaldur’s Gate 3.
The life cleric is the exception here. Its spell list includes no spells that aren’t already available to clerics. Like, at all. But it makes certain buff and support spells, like aid and mass cure wounds, always prepared. This way, they can experiment with some of the otherstrong cleric spellsavailable to them while always having their go-to buffs on hand. This is certainly a weak point of the subclass when compared to former two, which get unique spells, but it plays into the life cleric’s flavor of doubling down on what the cleric is known for.
Channel Divinity Features Are The Core Parts Of Each Subclass
Making The Most Of This Cleric-Specific Resource
Clerics get a unique ability called “channel divinity,” which they can use to turn nearby undead or activate a subclass-specific power. These powers can be used once, and later twice, per short rest, and their strength and utility is a big part of what determines a cleric’s usefulness. Especially when consideringthe possibility of multiclassing,channel divinity is an early-level feature that hybrid class characters can make use of.
Some of the weaker four subclasses demonstrate what a bad channel divinity looks like. The trickery cleric gets one called invoke duplicity, which conjures an illusory clone of the cleric that gives nearby creatures advantage on attack rolls. The issue with this is thatthe clone only has one hit point and tends to draw enemy aggression, so players would be lucky to get even one turn with this thing active. Plus, it requires concentration, something none of the other channel divinities do.
All three of the top cleric subclasses have amazing channel divinity options. The life cleric gets an action heal that restores a ton of hit points in a large area and benefits from their other heal-buffing abilities. The light cleric gets a radiant AOE that deals moderate damage and goes through cover, making it a great damaging choice early on. Andthe tempest cleric gets the ability to maximize the damage from their thunder and lightning spells for no action cost, making spells likeshattersuper powerful early in the game.
Additional Subclass Features Lean Into Different Play Styles
Clerics Are For More Than Healing
With access to spells likecure woundsandhealing word, clerics have a reputation for being a class that only heals and supports the party. And while subclasses like life play into that, the cleric is one of the most versatile characters for taking up different roles in the party. The various passive features that its subclasses provide allow the cleric to excel as a damage dealer, arena controller, support buffer, and many other things as well.
As stated, however,the life cleric is probably where the perception of the class as a heal-bot comes from. It heals itself whenever it heals its allies, provides extra points of healing through its spells, and most of the options on its spell list are either for healing or buffing allies' defensive abilities. That does put this cleric pretty firmly into a support role, but it is the best at keeping parties alive, and a great choice for companions in the game, like Shadowheart.
The tempest and light clerics are much more into dealing damage, and excel at taking out clusters of enemies with certain damage types. The light cleric accomplishes this through its channel divinity and spells, while its additional features use bursts of light to cause enemy attacks to miss. The tempest cleric leans hard into damage and battlefield control with lightning and thunder spells, a feature that deals damage to attackers, andthe ability to knock people back with their magic.
Which Cleric Subclass Can Claim To Be The Strongest?
Ranking The Best Of The Best
All three of these options are powerful, and will destroy even the toughest of encounters inBaldur’s Gate 3, butthe life and tempest domains have a bit of an edge over the light domain cleric.This is simply because they have additional weapon and armor proficiencies, and because they get some additional elemental damage from their melee attacks. The light cleric gets extra cantrip damage, which is worse, sincethe damaging cantrip spells the cleric gets aren’t great.
Between the top two, they really can’t be compared past this point, since it depends on what players want from their cleric. If they want a team member who can ensure the group’s survival and provide all kinds of healing, the life cleric is unmatched. If they want to make the most of the cleric’s damaging options and become a tanky blaster inBaldur’s Gate 3, the tempest domain is the way to go.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Developed and published by Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an upcoming role-playing game set to release in August of 2023. Players will create a character to embark on a large-scale journey and can do so solo or cooperatively with a friend. Combat is a turn-based style this time around.
